It was mentioned on the earnings conference call that FL has recently taken possession of more gates on D. Does anyone know how many they have over there now and are they trying for more? My last FL flight, we waited 15 minutes for a gate to open.

I remember someone mentioning them starting to use some gates on E. I am surprised they were able to get more D gates considering D is pretty full. Are these gates that Delta previously used?

Does anyone know how many gates Concourse F is going to have? I thought I remember hearing only about 12 gates would be added, but it seems like they should max out the number of gates with F, and open some more gates in E for domestic operations.

What would really be great is if when Concourse F and the new international building is complete, they could move half the D tenants to E and reconstruct each half of Concourse D as a newer wider concourse.

I saw about 7-8 AirTran 737s on D sometime over the past week (I've been in ATL 3 times in the last 6 days, so it's all blurring together now...). All were on the lower end of the concourse at the common use gates...I know a few new ones opened up though, so they might be using those.

Quoting TLHFLA (Reply 1):Does anyone know how many gates Concourse F is going to have? I thought I remember hearing only about 12 gates would be added, but it seems like they should max out the number of gates with F, and open some more gates in E for domestic operations.

What would really be great is if when Concourse F and the new international building is complete, they could move half the D tenants to E and reconstruct each half of Concourse D as a newer wider concourse.

Not gonna happen. Concourse E is common-use gates, but all are owned by the airport and have to be paid for use, meaning that the airlines can't take charge of them and sit on them. You are charged as you use them, and don't rent them on a yearly basis, per the domestic gates.

When the new International Concourse is opened, it is planned for the international airlines in ATL(BA, KE, KL, LH, AF, and any new entrants) will move there, and Delta will continue to expand international operations on E. FL probably won't go for using any gates on E because they would actually have to pay for them as they use them, instead of renting them for a whole year, despite the usage.

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Quoting TLHFLA (Reply 1):I am surprised they were able to get more D gates considering D is pretty full. Are these gates that Delta previously used?

No, these new gates become available because HAJIA is adding 3 jetways at D to fill the gaps, e.g. where CO routinely RONs of their planes. These gates allow for some gate reshuffling that gives FL these gates.

Quoting TLHFLA (Reply 1):Does anyone know how many gates Concourse F is going to have? I thought I remember hearing only about 12 gates would be added,

Actually, it's only 10.

Quoting TLHFLA (Reply 1):but it seems like they should max out the number of gates with F, and open some more gates in E for domestic operations.

That is maxed out, as that's the highest possible number on the limited area that there is for F.

Quoting TLHFLA (Reply 1):What would really be great is if when Concourse F and the new international building is complete, they could move half the D tenants to E and reconstruct each half of Concourse D as a newer wider concourse.

Not gonna happen. Concourse D svcks, but the chance HAJIA will invest lots of money into redoing D are between slim and none.

Quoting ATLAaron (Reply 2):That would probably allow for additional gates at E as it could accomodate smaller aircraft.

Having a row of 7 narrowbody gates instead of 6 widebody gates would indeed be a welcome addition, though I doubt it will happen.
That said, once F opens (sometime in the next decade), it will automatically mean that DL will also operate additional domestic flight from there as well. Currently, DL operates international departures from other concourses, either due to the lack of gate space at E during rush hour, as is the case with the 767s departing from Concourse T, or because the planes come off a domestic flight and depart from A/B, as is the case with the majority of 757/738 flights. All those flights could operate from E, and allow to ease traffic at A/B/T.

I know it is popular to jam everything possible into ATL. But this would be a bad move by FL. Why? Their on time record is really bad.

I was schedule to fly them IND-ATL-MCO . Guess what? IND-ATL severely late. They were nice enough to rebook me. That flight was also over an hour late.

My wife uses them twice. All flights late.

I recommended them to my neighbor who travels alot. She tries them a few times and refuses to ever use them again. Why? All of her flights were seriously late as well.

This is not a way to impress your customers. I don't care how friendly your people are if you can't get your customers where they want to go on time. Attempting to expand in ATL will only make matters worse. Think twice before you dig your own grave.

Quoting Indy (Reply 7): know it is popular to jam everything possible into ATL. But this would be a bad move by FL. Why? Their on time record is really bad.

I understand how you feel BUT there are other factors other than "popular". Airtran will probably do 1.7 to 1.8 Billion dollars in revenue this year. 70% of that is out of ATL. It is very easy to add cities and frequency in ATL without adding a whole lot of cost. Just ask Delta. Look how much they have added out ATL compared to rest of their system over the past three years. On time is important part of running an airline but somethings are beyond their control. Just before they closed 26L/8R(its almost 2 months now) on time for all three carriers in ATL were improving. That same logic UA and AMR should cut some flights out of ORD because relative to there other hubs it's on time is the lowest. Same goes for Usair in PHL. By far the worst performing hub as far as on time goes But is the crown jewel according to Parker.

There are trade offs but in a game of small operating margins that trumps everything else.

I believe AirTran is regularly using eleven gates on D in addition to the twenty-two on C. Some of the D gates are shared. Also, several late-evening terminators are off-loading at E before being towed to the hangar for overnight maintenance. There is talk of some carriers currently using D (AC, YX?) moving to E, opening up more space for FL.

BTW, the renovations on C & D, while still not finished are showing some nice results. AirTran is installing all-new gate podiums, flat panel info screens, new carpeting & wall coverings, more kiosks, laptop charging stations, etc. The marble central walkways (in the whole airport) make a huge difference in the look of the concourses.

The runway resurfacing, last I heard, is scheduled to be completed next week (11/7).

I work for Southwest, but the views expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Southwest.

Quoting DAL767400ER (Reply 11):6 to DTW, 3 to MEM and 5 to MSP, IIRC. Number-wise, 2 gates would easily be enough for NW, though I'm not sure of the flight times, so it might be that NW needs 3 gates at some point during the day.

NW's 4 gates are often used at the same time, its common to see 4 planes sitting there at the same time.

Quoting TLHFLA (Reply 12):How many gates to do they have? They could survive with three, but I could see them needing four.

Quoting Rumorboy (Reply 8):I understand how you feel BUT there are other factors other than "popular". Airtran will probably do 1.7 to 1.8 Billion dollars in revenue this year. 70% of that is out of ATL.

Revenue up 30% but they post a loss of over $4 million versus a profit for the same period last year. Perhaps since ATL is 70% of their business maybe we should look at ATL as the reason they aren't doing better financially.

How is it a waste of space when they have planes at four gates, during the summer when they have even more flights... one plane will leave and another will fill its space at the gate. Delta doesn't use all their gates at ATL all the time and so fourth, even worse is like HP and AC at ATL.

AirTran is pushing ATL to convert the old NW hangar into a 10-gate facility for non-hub airlines (CO, NW, YX) freeing up more space on D. AirTran has also committed to the entire new South Terminal but the city is dragging it's feet on any expansion. Look for AirTran to take its case public in the very near future.

I work for Southwest, but the views expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Southwest.

America West uses some of the same common use gates that AirTran uses. At one point in the 90s, America West did actually had it's own gate on D-North. AC's gate is also a common use gate, as in the past, I have seen AirTran and Hooters Air operating out of it. F9 and YX were sharing a gate, but since YX has increased their MKE-ATL service, F9 is using a different gate.

Quoting Gr8SlvrFlt (Reply 17):
AirTran is pushing ATL to convert the old NW hangar into a 10-gate facility for non-hub airlines (CO, NW, YX) freeing up more space on D. AirTran has also committed to the entire new South Terminal but the city is dragging it's feet on any expansion. Look for AirTran to take its case public in the very near future.

The only issue with creating a gate complex out of the old NW hangar is transferring pax between the terminal and the remote gates. The only option would be shuttle buses or eek! mobile lounges. DL codeshares on CO and NW and vice versa, so there would be pax that would need to transfer. Perhaps they could move UA and AA plus maybe F9, AC, YX and NK to such a complex and put NW and CO over on T-North.

Quoting Gr8SlvrFlt (Reply 17):AirTran is pushing ATL to convert the old NW hangar into a 10-gate facility for non-hub airlines (CO, NW, YX) freeing up more space on D. AirTran has also committed to the entire new South Terminal but the city is dragging it's feet on any expansion. Look for AirTran to take its case public in the very near future.

Quoting Srbmod (Reply 18):Perhaps they could move UA and AA plus maybe F9, AC, YX and NK to such a complex and put NW and CO over on T-North.

I can't see either UA or AA being enthusiastic about giving up some of the best-located gates in the entire airport in order to be located in a converted hangar. Nor would CO or NW be interested given the codeshare with Delta.

Quoting Gr8SlvrFlt (Reply 17):AirTran has also committed to the entire new South Terminal but the city is dragging it's feet on any expansion.

I was under the distinct impression that AirTran was actually uninterested in the South Terminal because the costs of operating from there were going to be significantly higher. One other consideration is that the new terminal would need to allow for expansion beyond what was proposed in 1999. The 1999 Master Plan had 31 gates at the new South Terminal, which would basically be a net loss in capacity for AirTran.